T BAR

I couldn't leave the T bar in its original condition, there was a little white over spray at each end of the T from some previous owners respray, a small split on the top and generally it looked rather tired. I did at first think I would only order the black vinyl cover as the foam underneath felt firm enough, but as soon as I unzipped and started to peel back the old cover I was mighty pleased I had ordered the five piece foam set as well as the cover.

Bits of sticky, crumbly, grubby foam ended up going all over the dining table, I should say that I had taken the precaution of covering the table first. I then decided to finish off removing the bulk of the  foam outside and I carefully carried it out and put it onto the garden table.

In the garage I scrapped away the residue and cleaned it up with white spirit and paper cloth, before I brought it back onto the lounge table to glue on the foam sections. I got carried away with the spray impact adhesive and forgot to take any photos until I had got the cover onto the T part.

This went easier than I expected, but I did wrap the foam, on the non zip side with cling film and this allowed the very snug sleeve to be pulled up that side of the T, that's the side that I have already glued the end. However when I started to zip the cover over the I part of the T, the cover was a little slack and wrinkly and I realised I was going to have to find some extra foam to stuff down one side to fill the cover.

I searched EBay for tubular foam and came up with foam designed for cushioning toes, bunions, corns etc. It came in various internal diameter, I chose the biggest at 25mm and 4 lengths of 25cm. I used two and a half lengths, the photo shows just one length temporally tucked in. I zipped the cover up the making sure the additional foam didn't move and now no wrinkles.

Just had to pull the cover tight over the small end and trim off the excess material and stick it down, this was fiddly work, snipping away to ensure there was minimum overlap as I pulled the material into the corners, patience pays off though, but it was several hours and my thumbs were a bit sore.

I'm pretty chuffed, that will be the first thing back on the car when I get it back, which seems as if it will be before Christmas, but that's another story.